Lt Col RA Ferguson TD
The day of the England versus Wales rugby match in January 1956 saw me on the train to Oswestry at the start of two years national service. I spent the greater part of my time in the demonstration regiment attached to the school of Artillery at Larkhill on Salisbury plain. Most of our time was spent on the ranges providing support for various courses passing through the school.
I enjoyed my time but declined to sign on as a regular soldier. When the time came for demob I received a note saying that for my reserve service I was allocated the Honourable Artillery Company in London. I had never heard of them so went to the battery Sergeant Major, and a world War two veteran and he said “oh you will love it there”. The HAC had apparently borrowed his self-propelled gun for their annual camp and returned it with the ammo trays stuffed with bottles of beer, as a thank you. In his book, this made it a good unit to join.
Soon after demob I started work in the city and I went to visit Armoury House the home of 1st Field Regiment Honourable Artillery Company Royal Horse Artillery. I met people there who encouraged me to sign up for the TA which I did early in 1958.
The HAC at that time consisted of a battalion of infantry and an artillery regiment. The regiment had been founded by Henry V111 in 1537 and claimed to be the oldest in the British army.
Apart from its infantry and artillery roles it also carried out ceremonial duties in London providing guards of honour for visiting heads of state and firing salutes from the Tower of London. The regiment was unique at that time in that whatever rank you had previously held, you gave up, and joined as a private or gunner and if you were thought good enough you could progress through the ranks and be commissioned as an officer in the Regiment. This means of regimental selection meant that we knew the people set over us, whether with one stripe or a crown and two pips. In addition, as nearly everyone had done at least two years national service drill and weapon handling were second nature. To begin with and for a few years after I don’t remember that we had any formal recruits course and anyone joining without previous military experience was instructed within his sub unit.
When I joined the commanding officer and also my battery commander had seen war service with the regiment. Major Norman Young who commanded ‘A’ battery which I joined, had led his troop of guns from Normandy to Germany and was, in civilian life, a partner in his own firm of advertising consultants. My gun sergeant had been a captain in the desert campaign and was a senior figure in the legal profession.
Because I had come straight from the School of Artillery I was very much up-to-date with what new equipment was available and had served throughout with the 25 pounder gun with which my new regiment was equipped. Our Permanent Staff Instructors (PSIs) all came from 1RHA and were, without exception, fine soldiers.
The regiment maintained high standards in the field and on ceremonial duties and those who could not be trained to achieve those standards did not remain in the regiment. On my first live firing weekend on Salisbury plain, a battery of guns consisted of two troops of 4 guns each with a Troop Command Post and a Battery Command Post to coordinate the two troops and maintain communication with the regimental command post. There was always strong competition between the gun subsections as to which gun could come into and out of action first. I was put in the seat of the layer who set the bearings and range of the gun. Luckily for me during the day we had a shoot to lay a smokescreen. To do this each gun fires three rounds of smoke as quickly as possible to build up the smoke and then at set intervals to maintain it. I got my rounds off at high speed because I had done it many times before and our gun was a very clear winner. From that moment on I was accepted within the battery as someone who knew what he was doing.
We had one drill night a week and probably six weekends and an annual camp. On top of this we did the gun salutes at the Tower of London and the annual Lord Mayor’s show. We were still armed with the .303 rifles and our radio sets were the old 19 and 22 sets of World War II vintage. They were run off batteries all of which had to be charged every night by the signals Sergeant.
On Friday nights we would meet up at Armoury House and cheerfully swap our small cars for a gun towing quad and drive it with a limber and gun attached through the streets of London onto the Salisbury plain training area. There was no such thing as an HGV license and driver training, if you had a normal license, was probably limited to going round a field a few times mainly to make sure you could maintain the vehicle and get it into four-wheel-drive.
Being a gunner regiment, to carry out live firing, our annual camps were restricted to Salisbury plain, Sennybridge, Otterburn and, to a limited degree, Thetford/ Standford training areas. When Norman Young assumed command of the regiment, he decided to put into effect a simulation of the style of life encountered during the war. This exercise became known as the Tour of Britain. The regiment formed at Thetford moved to Salisbury plain and then up to Sennybridge, and further north to Otterburn near to the Scottish border, and then back down to Thetford, carrying out fire and movement exercises at each location and living in the field. I think this was the best exercise in which I ever took part and tested every part of the regiment to its full capacity. In particular the REME mechanics had a hard time recovering broken down vehicles. It was amazing how many broke down outside a pub!
National service ended and with it the flow of fully trained soldiers dried up and we had to work hard to recruit and run training courses for them, signals courses, command post courses, teach them weapon handling and how to shoot. At this stage I was acting as signals sergeant and one night, whilst trying to establish our radio net, was approached by James Baxter, our then battery commander, who had won an MC and bar in Korea and who I very much respected, to see if I would like to be put forward for a commission as the role of the regiment had been expanded to producing officers. I joined the course made up of candidates from our regiment and the infantry battalion and other units in London district. I am not sure how, but I passed out top of this selection course and was lucky enough to be commissioned into my regiment rather than into a pool of officers, returning to A battery as an officer.
In 1967 the TA became the TAVR and the infantry Battalion lost a company and the gunners officially lost a battery. However, at camp that year we clubbed together and C battery in a reduced form made it to camp but its fate was sealed and the Regiment reorganised into a two battery format. However the government of the time had not finished with us and it was decided that the infantry battalion and artillery regiment should be merged into a single unit. This unit was to provide forward observation parties to be deployed in Germany and at the same time retaining a troop of four guns to provide practice in adjusting the fire of guns and registering targets for fire plans. By this time I had reached the rank of Captain and was fully qualified as a forward observation officer. My last camp with the now combined regiment was in Cyprus where, for the first time I had practical experience adjusting infantry live mortar fire. At this time my civilian job meant a move to our Manchester office.
Before I finish my brief story with the HAC I should add that the regiment still very much flourishes in the army order of battle. It now provides a surveillance and target acquisition capability and many of its soldiers have served on Afghan tours. The fitness levels required even to get on to the recruits course let alone the patrols are, to those of my vintage, awesome.
DLOY
Having moved to Manchester and served 13 years and having a young family, I thought my TA days were over. However, a work colleague of mine invited me to lunch at the St James club and there, for the first time, I met Norman Phillips. He had at one time been a regular officer with 3 RHA which had been stationed at Bulford whilst I was at Larkhill. Those who know Norman know how persuasive he can be and it must've been a good lunch as I agreed to join his seemingly ambitious scheme to form a whole regiment based on his cadre of 8 men. I duly went before the Honorary Colonel, Michael Birtwistle and I remember him saying to me “you are not a popinjay, are you?”
I was posted to B Squadron, then based in the old pre-refurbished drill hall in Chorley. The Officer commanding was a namesake, John Ferguson, but no relation. Before he served in the DLOY, he had previously served in Niagara battery in the same regiment as me at Larkhill. He had served with DLOY (RTR) before it was reduced to a cadre.
We started the Squadron from scratch with S/Sgt Midgely posted to us from 14/20th as our PSI. We were fortunate to get him as he proved to be a very fine soldier and went on to serve as RSM of 14/20th. As SSM we were joined by WO2 R Gorton ex Scots Guards and SQMS W Lorimer, also an experienced soldier. Midgely quite rightly referred to our office as the squadron office- SSM Gorton to the company office and I called it the battery office. However from our different backgrounds we worked well together and gradually the squadron began to take shape. Our role was an infantry one geared to Home Defence and our first camp was at Thetford. The squadron management team had to quickly refresh their memories as to how to carry out section attacks and ambushes. Anyway with plenty of dash and enthusiasm I think we managed to convince a somewhat sceptical Brigadier from North West District that we knew what we were about.
I am uncertain as to which year it was [1971] at Thetford but we came across the Dad’s Army team filming locally. Arthur Lowe (Capt. Mannering) had served in the DLOY at a time when we had horses and he came over to visit us and to reminisce about his days with the Regiment.
We were short of officers that first camp with only one subaltern (Nick Fairclough) but we had a strong team at RHQ with Col. Norman commanding and Major Pharo-Tomlin from the 14th/20th as our training major. At least we did not damage his future army career as he went on to command his regiment from 1977 to 1979. He remained a good friend to us sending good training majors, adjutants, and PSIs. In 2002 the Museum of the King’s Royal Hussars in Lancashire published a fine book The Ramnuggur Boys 14th/20th King’s Hussars 1715-1992 written by him. If you are interested in the history of a fine cavalry regiment it is recommended as a good read.
Our Quartermaster was Major Trevor Jones who was a former gunner and one of those, as a young man, evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk. His was a thankless task scrounging equipment from wherever he could find it to try and help us. The Adjutant was a retired officer Major Basil Gaskin who had served with West African soldiers. We were also very fortunate in RSM Morrow 9th/12th Lancers again an outstanding soldier fitting in well with our Yeomanry ways.
Our second camp was spent at Jurby, Isle of Man. Here we learnt a lesson in as much that if the RAF transported you by helicopter it could be a one way trip and you walk back! I remember hearing over the radio a breathless voice saying that they were crossing a field and were being chased by a bull. Nothing we could do but laugh. I also remember S/Sgt Midgely getting a serious rifting from OC ‘B’ Squadron for shaking his bottle of red wine.
Colonel Norman reached the end of his term of command and retired. We were all very sorry to see him go as the DLOY owed him a great debt for all he had done in keeping the cadre together and in getting the regiment off the ground again.
He was replaced by Lieutenant Colonel Desmond Bastick a Royal Tank Regiment regular officer. There were then several changes as we no longer had a regular officer as training major. Major John Ferguson took on this role and also the job of coming to grips with our Pye radio equipment. To operate this system properly it was necessary to deploy repeater stations on high ground. When the system was up and running the radios were very effective and worked well in built up areas such as Liverpool and central Manchester. Major Frank Hewitt joined the regiment from the Fusiliers and took over command of ‘B’ Sqn. Robert Heaton was promoted to take over ‘D’ Sqn. from Major John Stuart-Mills and David Claxton continued to command ‘A’ Sqn.
I was working at this time in our London head office on a temporary basis before coming back to Manchester and acted as Intelligence Officer on weekend exercises. Lt. Barry Greenwood joined ‘B’ Sqn at about this time.
One particular exercise I recall had Col Bastick instructing us to pass a length of string through our shoulder straps linking us all together so as not to get lost or separated on the way to make a final assault.
I missed camp at Bellerby in Yorkshire that year and instead attended a Combat Team Commanders course at the School of Infantry Warminster (a place I never expected to see the inside of). Much to my joy a squadron of the 14th/20th provided the RAC element for courses and this included the friendly face of by then WO2 Midgely. Completion of this course qualified me for promotion and when David Claxton assumed command of the regiment I became officer commanding ‘A’ Sqn. The Squadron at that time was based in a very old drill hall in Powell Street Wigan and was the best recruited squadron in the regiment. Martin Steiger on being commissioned joined the team in Wigan.
One weekend at about this time we were on the ranges at Altcar when we received a visit from the GOC North West District. He was being a bit fussy about the LMG gunners keeping their heels together in the prone position. The rain started to fall and he came to one yeoman on the rifle range and asked if his aim was put off by the rain “we’re from Lancashire we’d be buggered if sun were shining” came the swift reply.
We had a training major from the Lancers who thought it would be a good idea to spend time at annual camp on Sennybridge ranges digging a ten man nuclear survival shelter. When news got out about this plan a substantial number of yeoman decided that they had better things to do than dig holes and opted instead to go on outside courses. This probably had a longer term benefit but meant we had a much reduced turnout when camp came round and we reached the training area.
Barry Greenwood and I led a composite squadron out of camp on a cross country march to the site of the big dig and armed with a few sketches and no doubt the drill book for shelters ten man nuclear scratched our heads and pondered what to do next. Luckily we had a number of yeomen from the construction and building trades and with the arrival of a truck carrying the defence stores the marking out and digging started. At the same time we set up SHQ in a nearby copse in order that the cooks could get established.
It was slow and hard work and I had gone to the copse to sort out some admin problems. On returning to the site I saw that the digging must have got on a lot faster as only the top half of the diggers bodies was visible. I suspect it was somebody like Sgt Norburn who was responsible for the trick as when I got closer they all stood up from their knees laughing. We had hardly got any distance down. To cut a long story short the shelter was dug and with extra defence stores and a raid on the camp for the odd door etc. to make the internal bunks we completed a very fine shelter. The camp commandant came to inspect our efforts and either didn't spot or more likely turned a blind eye to the parts of his camp we had utilised. Much to our surprise he was delighted with our efforts and rather than our having to fill it in again he wanted to keep it as a training aid to show people what a completed shelter should look like.
The second week we used the excellent ranges which allowed live firing section attacks- exceedingly hairy if you are doing safety.
The Silver Jubilee came round and Her Majesty was due to visit Wigan on her tour of Lancashire. After much fitting of uniforms, hats and belts by the QM and RQMS Steven the soldiers were selected for a full Royal Guard of Honour with the Guidon party in the centre. After quite a bit of drill, cleaning of weapons, burnishing of bayonets, bulling of best boots it was decided that we would spend the night before in the Wigan drill hall. When the 20th June 1977 dawned we marched to Wigan station and drew up the guard on the road opposite a small white painted dais that had been built for Her Majesty. We were supported by the band of the Royal Engineers. On the order “March on the Guidon” the band played our regimental march John O’ Gaunt.
All was now set and the train duly pulled in and after being greeted by all and sundry the Queen mounted the dais. On the order “Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry Guard of Honour Royal Salute- Present arms”. The band struck up the National Anthem and suddenly the crowed all joined in singing. A broad smile crept across the face of the Queen - it was going to be a friendly Lancashire occasion. Martin Steiger commanded one half of the guard and Barry Greenwood, the other.
Her Majesty, our Colonel-in-Chief, was good enough to stop long enough to inspect the whole guard not just a quick walk down the front rank. It was a memorable day and I hope anyone who reads this and was there remembers it with pride.
Early in 1978 David Claxton handed over command to Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Cable-Alexander Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. His arrival coincided with the introduction of “The One Army Concept”. This provided a boost in rates of pay and a step up in the annual bounty to £300 after three years qualifying service. We also were able to recruit WRAC girls into the regiment. In a very short space of time they were able to make a considerable contribution to our efficiency thanks in large part to Sgt. Priestly, Sue Neale and later Margaret Hammersley. At this time I was still commanding “A” Sqn. We had the usual squadron and regimental weekends and camp that year was at Fremington which is near Barnstable. We had a regimental exercise on Dartmoor which showed “A” squadron at its best. Moving across the moor and facing various tasks we cleared a series of enemy positions. As we were crossing a particularly difficult piece of country I felt a tap on the shoulder “I shouldn’t go any further if I were you sir”. When it was pointed out I could just make out an aerial sticking out of the undergrowth. Thanks to this sharp pair of eyes we avoided the ambush and got behind them and captured some of B squadron who were acting as enemy. That night was spent on one of the high tors and the lights of the prison could be seen in the distance. We envied the prisoners their warm cells and beds. I spent the night under a poncho basher shared with SSM Stewart. Next morning we carried out a squadron attack joined by D squadron with B continuing to act as enemy forces. This was done under the watchful eyes of General Sibald the then GOC NW District. With the aid of bags of smoke and plenty of dash and shouting the final assault was carried through with success.
After camp that year on 27th October I attended the Camberley Staff College TA course. Here we came to grips with the quirks of military writing styles as well as being put under pressure on various exercises. It was a first class course taught by guys who knew what they were about and was one that I wished could go on even longer. Whilst on the course I received a note to the effect that our then quartermaster, who had taken over from Trevor, had sadly died from a brain tumour. This was a blow as we had a busy time coming up. As luck would have it Eddie Sheen was about to retire from the 14th/20th. He had done tours with the regiment as a PSI and as RSM so his return to the fold as our QM was a very welcome relief.
At the start of January 1980 Lt Lovell (former DLOY RSM), RQMS Steven and myself spent 4 days in Gibraltar. This was a reconnaissance for Ex Marble Tor to take place later in the year. In April we held a weekend at Leek to bring together those chosen to go on the exercise. We formed a composite squadron (C Squadron) and the notes made for the briefing given to the squadron are attached as a separate annex. During the weekend we had the opportunity to fire the Carl Gustav for the first time. In mid-May I attended the Commanding Officers Designate course at Larkhill. At the end of the month those not going to Gibraltar went to Culty Braggan for annual camp.
On 7th June 1980 C squadron and their equipment moved to Manchester airport and flew the four noisy hours to Gibraltar in two Hercules aircraft. Right from the church parade we held on the first Sunday we built a good relationship with 2LI, the regular battalion we were supporting. Their 2i/c Major Tim Barker, in particular, helped us throughout our time with them.
We operated with four troops and an SHQ. The troop commanders being Andrew Evans, Tim Mort, Justin Walker and John Tustin who all had an opportunity to command a full troop for the first time. Our main task was to guard the Spanish border and man the Four Corners guard.
It was not all work and amongst other things the D squadron boys had brought some Blackpool rock to the Rock and visited St Bernard’s children’s ward and St Martin’s school for the handicapped to give some out to the children. Miss Audrey Lopez (Miss Gibraltar) who worked for a company associated with my own was sporting enough to spend time with us. So we did the job we had been sent out to do efficiently and without incidence and carried out some good training and made time for adventure training and fun. Colonel Patrick came out to visit us at the end of our deployment and we held a party in a cave to thank all those who had helped us. Cpl Lake and Sutton used their considerable skills to build an amazing bar in this cave and 2LI were very happy to keep it after we left.
We went through the exercise with no traffic accidents, except perhaps Cpl Jones who had one of her wing mirrors eaten by an ape. We had one man with blisters on his feet and one needing five stitches in his leg following a water skiing accident. Some pictures of our activities are attached.
Shortly after our return on 14th July 1980 I assumed command of the regiment with a handover from Colonel Patrick, who was moving to an appointment at HQ North West District at Fulwood. He had done a splendid job in his period of command and I was fortunate to inherit a regiment, well recruited and in good heart. RHQ at this time was still at Clifton and work on the Chorley Drill Hall started in August and was due for completion a year later. In addition A squadron in Wigan was to move from Powell Street once a suitable site had been found. We were also working with the Director Royal Armoured Corps to arrive at a suitable establishment for a possible role as a medium reconnaissance regt.
As camp for 1980 had already taken place we had a regimental exercise in mid-September but otherwise it was mostly squadron weekends for the rest of the year. Our new recruits, at this stage joined with other units on courses run at the Queen Elizabeth barracks Strensall and one for which we were responsible was held in late September.
The Remembrance Day parade was held in Wigan on the Saturday to allow squadrons to support their own locations on the day itself. The Mayor took the salute on the march past together with the Honorary Colonel Simon Towneley. The custom in the Royal Navy is for ships to adopt a town or city and HMS Sceptre, a nuclear submarine, adopted Wigan. I think it was probably at an earlier Remembrance Day, when I was OC the Wigan squadron that the Captain of Sceptre, Rob Forsyth, attended the parade and subsequently several members of the squadron visited the submarine. Rob has retired and we both now live in the same village.
I believe it was Martin Steiger who, amongst others, instigated the purchase of new ceremonial uniforms and on 6th February 1981 we took part in the BBC television programme Look North West to show them off. We had at this time started the tradition of guarding the trophies at the Grand National meeting at Aintree. It is pleasing to see that this tradition continues some thirty five years later. Some of the boys earned a few pennies taking part in the filming of the Bob Champion story of his remarkable come back from cancer to win the Grand National.
For camp in June 1981 it was not our turn for a major training area so the first week was spent at Altcar and the second at Spadeadam close to the Scottish border. For this second week the midges were at their worst and it was probably the one and only time that people were very happy to wear full NBC protection including the gas mask to keep them away. For this week we were joined by a platoon of 1 Royal Irish whose corporals, we found, made good instructors.
The Remembrance Day parade that year was held in Chorley where we had a service in St George’s the church of our padre Trevor Vaughan. We were pleased that Colonel Birtwistle read the lesson. Colonel Simon Towneley who, as well as being our Honorary Colonel, was also Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire again took the salute together with the mayor of Chorley. The march past was led by the band of 2LI our friends from Gibraltar followed by the regiment and a very good turnout of old comrades. Colonel Simon then formally opened our new Regimental Headquarters in the fully refurbished drill hall. This drill hall provided the opportunity to set up Officers, WO & Sgts, and corporals messes to enhance the social activities within the regiment.
Throughout the year work went on to agree the establishment for our proposed change of role and in October we had a meeting in Cirencester with the Bovington team and other interested parties.
Peter Harman was the then commanding officer of 14th/20th and he like his predecessors was a good friend to us maintaining a high standard of soldiers sent to serve with us. In October Captain Brian Stocker, who had just resigned from the army, joined us as the con-rate administration officer. This strengthened even further the team which centred round Eddie Sheen as QM, Kerry Hodson as Training Major and Brian- soon to be joined by Capt. Charles Clark as Adjutant all from the 14th/20th. Kerry devised some good training exercises ready for camp which was to be in September on the Stanford Training area, and would include an exercise set by HQ North West District.
In July we said farewell to Brigadier Findlay who had been my immediate superior in the chain of command. He was a cavalryman and had always been supportive and offered sound advice. On one exercise for some reason I had not drawn a pistol from the armoury and instead put into the empty holster a large corkscrew with an ornate wooden handle from the mess. The Brigadier spotted this and thinking I had a fancy personal weapon ask to see it. Luckily I was about to board a Puma helicopter and waved the corkscrew at him and the final words I heard as I jumped in were “Bloody Yeomanry”. His replacement was Brigadier Howarth.
Annual camp came round and we were joined by B Company 1 Royal Irish. We were set a route clearance exercise for a cruise missile deployment. This required several section, troop and squadron attacks against a very active enemy force. At first there was a tendency for a lack of control but soon we got the hang of it and proper drills were established with clear fire and movement orders given. It always seem to happen that there is a period needed between civilian life and getting into the swing of military drills. The final exercise involved a full regimental attack with B Company under command. Never having done such a large infantry attack RSM Potts and I had a most enjoyable time and all seemed to go off ok.
In October I visited HQ Scotland to find out how they envisaged the use of our squadrons allocated to their Highland and Lowland Brigades in our new role.
1982 had seen much more serious activity in the South Atlantic and early in December I was fortunate enough to attend a presentation at Fulwood on the Falklands Operation Corporate. We heard presentations from a young troop commander from the Blues and Royals-the only armour present, and from a subaltern in the Scots Guards on the attack on Mount Tumbledown. What those guys achieved was truly remarkable.
The year ended with our usual Christmas parties when we could make full use of the Chorley drill hall facilities.
January 1983 should have seen the end of my period of command but I received notice that it was to be extended for a further six months to make a total of three years.
At last in February the Army Establishment committee agreed our new role establishment at 440 all ranks. Our then recruited strength was about 460 including 33 WRAC. I do not have a note of the date of arrival of our 70 shiny new landrovers but this period was certainly good for morale and saw us back fully with the Royal Armoured Corps in a reconnaissance role. This also meant a change in emphasis on training with more radio operators and drivers required to man the vehicles.
My final weekend training was a regimental exercise at Warcop. I could not understand why Kerry Hodson kept me away from visiting the training but all became clear when the Regiment kindly mounted a farewell parade with a drive past headed by our guidon. I have attached some pictures of this, for me, memorable and touching experience.
Throughout service with the DLOY I was exceedingly fortunate to come into contact with so many splendid yeomen and I know that I have only mentioned a tiny few by name. I should like to put on record the debt our present squadron owes to its survival which in large part was due to the efforts of Martin Steiger and Ernest Ryder. These two put together a persuasive paper at a time when the regiment was to be reduced to a squadron size and saw off the usual fierce yeomanry lobbyists who would have us disbanded to promote their own interests.
I wish the squadron all the very best in their latest incarnation as part of the Queen’s Own Yeomanry.
(Photo used for Regimental Christmas card - Guidon Party in main doorway at St George's parish church, Chorley
RQMS Steven with SQMSs MacLachlan & Malley)
The B&W photographs attached include those taken on Ex MARBLE TOR on Gibraltar in 1980 and some taken at Warcop in 1983 with the new landrovers.